Niemann-Pick disease, type C1: genes and variants
Niemann-Pick disease, type C1 is linked to 1 analyzed protein (NPC1). 175 DNA variants are known to cause it; 469 more are uncertain, and 13 of those already look disease-causing on computable evidence.
Last updated 2026-09-30. Research information, not medical advice.
Genes linked to Niemann-Pick disease, type C1
NPC1: NPC intracellular cholesterol transporter 1
It moves cholesterol and other lipids out of late endosomes and lysosomes so they can be redistributed throughout the cell. Biallelic loss-of-function variants cause Niemann-Pick disease type C with progressive neurologic and visceral lipid-storage disease.
175 disease-causing and 469 uncertain variants in NPC1 are linked to Niemann-Pick disease, type C1.
Weakly linked (only a few uncertain records): SMPD1.
Where Niemann-Pick disease, type C1 variants cluster
- NPC1 Lumenal (positions 854–1097): 54 of 175 disease-causing changes, 1.6× more than its size predicts.
- NPC1 Transmembrane (positions 1151–1171): 9 of 175 disease-causing changes, 3.1× more than its size predicts.
- NPC1 Transmembrane (positions 1195–1215): 8 of 175 disease-causing changes, 2.8× more than its size predicts.
- NPC1 Transmembrane (positions 1125–1145): 6 of 175 disease-causing changes, 2.1× more than its size predicts.
- NPC1 Cytoplasmic (positions 1172–1194): 6 of 175 disease-causing changes, 1.9× more than its size predicts.
Known disease-causing variants in Niemann-Pick disease, type C1
| Variant | Position | Protein part | Clinical label |
|---|---|---|---|
| NPC1 C63R | 63 | Lumenal | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 R404W | 404 | Lumenal | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 P691L | 691 | SSD | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 P691Q | 691 | SSD | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 P691A | 691 | SSD | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 A764V | 764 | SSD | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 R789C | 789 | Cytoplasmic | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 F842L | 842 | Transmembrane | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 S865L | 865 | Lumenal | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 A926T | 926 | Lumenal | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 V950G | 950 | Lumenal | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 R978C | 978 | Lumenal | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 E1089K | 1089 | Lumenal | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 M1142T | 1142 | Transmembrane | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 N1156I | 1156 | Transmembrane | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 C1168Y | 1168 | Transmembrane | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 T1205R | 1205 | Transmembrane | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 V1212L | 1212 | Transmembrane | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 L1213V | 1213 | Transmembrane | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 C177Y | 177 | Important for cholesterol binding and cholestero | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 R404Q | 404 | Lumenal | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 P474L | 474 | Lumenal | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 P543L | 543 | Lumenal | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 R615C | 615 | Lumenal | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 R615H | 615 | Lumenal | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 Y634C | 634 | SSD | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 Y634F | 634 | SSD | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 V664M | 664 | SSD | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 S734I | 734 | SSD | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 R789G | 789 | Cytoplasmic | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 A926V | 926 | Lumenal | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 S940L | 940 | Lumenal | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 D948N | 948 | Lumenal | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 G992W | 992 | Lumenal | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 W1145R | 1145 | Transmembrane | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 A1151T | 1151 | Transmembrane | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 N1156S | 1156 | Transmembrane | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 R1186H | 1186 | Cytoplasmic | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 T1205K | 1205 | Transmembrane | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 V1212M | 1212 | Transmembrane | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 L1213F | 1213 | Transmembrane | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 R518W | 518 | Lumenal | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 S652W | 652 | SSD | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 S667L | 667 | SSD | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 D712N | 712 | SSD | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 Q775P | 775 | SSD | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 D945N | 945 | Lumenal | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 G992R | 992 | Lumenal | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 P1007L | 1007 | Lumenal | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 Y1019C | 1019 | Lumenal | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 G1034R | 1034 | Lumenal | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 A1035V | 1035 | Lumenal | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 T1036A | 1036 | Lumenal | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 F1087L | 1087 | Lumenal | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 Y1088C | 1088 | Lumenal | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 V1141G | 1141 | Transmembrane | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 C113R | 113 | Lumenal | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 T375A | 375 | Lumenal | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 P471L | 471 | Lumenal | Disease-causing (★★) |
| NPC1 R518Q | 518 | Lumenal | Disease-causing (★★) |
Showing 60 of 175.
Uncertain variants in Niemann-Pick disease, type C1 that look disease-causing
| Variant | Position | Protein part | Clinical label | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NPC1 C479Y | 479 | Lumenal | Conflicting reports (★) | +7: 2 other pathogenic changes within 3 positions; C479S at the same position is pathogenic; seen in 6.6e-06 of gnomAD DNA copies; REVEL 0.941 |
| NPC1 R389C | 389 | Lumenal | Conflicting reports (★) | +7: 2 other pathogenic changes within 3 positions; R389L at the same position is pathogenic; seen in 6.8e-06 of gnomAD DNA copies; REVEL 0.928 |
| NPC1 N1156T | 1156 | Transmembrane | Conflicting reports (★) | +7: 2 other pathogenic changes within 3 positions; N1156I at the same position is pathogenic; seen in 6.9e-07 of gnomAD DNA copies; REVEL 0.854 |
| NPC1 H512R | 512 | Lumenal | Conflicting reports (★) | +7: 2 other pathogenic changes within 3 positions; H512Y at the same position is pathogenic; seen in 6.6e-06 of gnomAD DNA copies; REVEL 0.838 |
| NPC1 G1012C | 1012 | Lumenal | Uncertain | +7: 2 other pathogenic changes within 3 positions; G1012D at the same position is pathogenic; seen in 6.8e-07 of gnomAD DNA copies; REVEL 0.890 |
| NPC1 P401S | 401 | Lumenal | Uncertain | +7: 3 other pathogenic changes within 3 positions; P401T at the same position is pathogenic; seen in 8.9e-06 of gnomAD DNA copies; REVEL 0.776 |
| NPC1 R789H | 789 | Cytoplasmic | Conflicting reports (★) | +6: 2 other pathogenic changes within 3 positions; R789C at the same position is pathogenic; not seen in the gnomAD population database; AlphaMissense 0.87 |
| NPC1 T1036M | 1036 | Lumenal | Conflicting reports (★) | +6: 5 other pathogenic changes within 3 positions; T1036A at the same position is pathogenic; REVEL 0.874 |
| NPC1 S734T | 734 | SSD | Conflicting reports (★) | +6: 3 other pathogenic changes within 3 positions; S734I at the same position is pathogenic; seen in 2.7e-06 of gnomAD DNA copies; REVEL 0.652 |
| NPC1 S652L | 652 | SSD | Uncertain (★) | +6: S652W at the same position is pathogenic; REVEL 0.937 |
| NPC1 P471S | 471 | Lumenal | Uncertain (★) | +6: 4 other pathogenic changes within 3 positions; P471L at the same position is pathogenic; not seen in the gnomAD population database; AlphaMissense 0.72 |
| NPC1 S1169I | 1169 | Transmembrane | Uncertain (★) | +6: 4 other pathogenic changes within 3 positions; S1169R at the same position is pathogenic; REVEL 0.815 |
| NPC1 M866I | 866 | Lumenal | Uncertain (★★) | +6: 4 other pathogenic changes within 3 positions; M866T at the same position is pathogenic; seen in 0 of gnomAD DNA copies; REVEL 0.688 |
Which prediction tools work for Niemann-Pick disease, type C1
How often each tool ranks a disease-causing variant above a harmless one (AUROC × 100).
- REVEL: 97 out of 100 (learned from overlapping clinical labels, so this is optimistic)
- CATVariant: 97 out of 100 (learned from overlapping clinical labels, so this is optimistic)
- CADD: 95 out of 100
- PolyPhen-2: 94 out of 100 (learned from overlapping clinical labels, so this is optimistic)
- SIFT: 92 out of 100
- phyloP: 82 out of 100
Diseases related to Niemann-Pick disease, type C1
- Niemann-Pick disease, type A, also linked to NPC1
- Niemann-Pick disease, type C, also linked to NPC1
- Sphingomyelin/cholesterol lipidosis, also linked to NPC1
- Dystonic disorder, also linked to NPC1
Frequently asked questions
Which genes are linked to Niemann-Pick disease, type C1?
In CATVariant, Niemann-Pick disease, type C1 is linked to 1 analyzed protein: NPC1 (NPC intracellular cholesterol transporter 1).
How many genetic variants are linked to Niemann-Pick disease, type C1?
700 variants: 175 are classified as disease-causing (pathogenic or likely pathogenic) in ClinVar and 469 are of uncertain significance or have conflicting reports.
Which uncertain variants in Niemann-Pick disease, type C1 look disease-causing?
13 uncertain variants reach the likely-pathogenic range of the ACMG/AMP points scale on computable evidence, for example NPC1 C479Y, NPC1 R389C, NPC1 N1156T, NPC1 H512R and NPC1 G1012C. These are leads for expert review, not diagnoses.
Which variant effect predictor works best for Niemann-Pick disease, type C1?
Among tools not trained on clinical labels, CADD separates this disease's known disease-causing variants from harmless ones best (AUROC 0.95, based on 117 disease-causing and 30 harmless variants).
About this data
Variant–disease links come from ClinVar, Open Targets and UniProt, pooled from the latest public CATVariant analysis of each human protein. Evidence scores use the ACMG/AMP Bayesian points scale with computable criteria only (position among known disease variants, rarity in gnomAD, calibrated predictors, deep mutational scanning); there is no family or patient data, so they prioritise variants for expert review and never classify them.
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